Multi-platform digital television

ABSTRACT

A multi-platform television comprises at least one television signal interface to receive premium television services from at least two different television service providers. The television further comprises a programmable conditional access system to enable conditional access to the premium television services received by the at least one television signal interface from the at least two different service providers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to digital television sets.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Until recently, substantially the only option for consumers toaccess digital television was to acquire a set-top box. However, a newalternative in the form of an integrated digital television set isemerging. The integrated digital television set provides a single unitthat allows consumers to directly access digital content. These unitsare able to receive free-to-air digital signals usually through aconventional television antenna without the need for a set-top box.However, cable television and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) aredominant video entertainment service providers whose needs are not fullymet with current integrated digital television sets.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0005] The present invention is pointed out with particularity in theappended claims. However, other features are described in the followingdetailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawing inwhich:

[0006]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a multi-platformdigital television.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0007] The present invention provides an integrated digital televisionset compatible with over-the-air, cable and direct broadcast satellite(DBS) television service distribution means. The integrated digitaltelevision set handles multiple premium television services offered bycable and DBS television service providers in a seamless manner andwithout an additional set-top box. Examples of the premium televisionservices include, but are not limited to, pay-per-view, video-on-demandand interactive television services. The integrated digital televisionset provides a common platform that enables digital television setmanufacturers to address the needs of cable television service providersand their subscribers, and DBS television service providers and theirsubscribers.

[0008]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a multi-platformdigital television 10. The television 10 comprises one television signalinterface 12 to receive television signals from at least one source.Preferably, the at least one television signal interface 12 comprises acable television signal interface 14, a direct broadcast satelliteinterface 16 and an over-the-air television signal interface 20. Each ofthe interfaces 14, 16 and 20 may comprise a respective coaxial cablejack, for example.

[0009] The cable television signal interface 14 is to receive televisionsignals from a cable television source 22. The cable television source22 communicates the television signals to the user via a cable plant.The direct broadcast satellite television signal interface 16 is toreceive television signals from a direct broadcast satellite source 24using an external antenna 26 such as a dish antenna. Examples of thedirect broadcast satellite source 24 include those marketed under theEchostar™ brand and the DirecTV™ brand. The over-the-air televisionsignal interface 20 is to receive television signals from over-the-airsources 28 using an external antenna 30. The over-the-air sources 28 areterrestrial sources that broadcast local channels.

[0010] The television 10 further comprises a cable demodulator 32, adirect broadcast satellite demodulator 34 and an over-the-airdemodulator 36. The cable demodulator 32 is to demodulate televisionsignals received via the cable television signal interface 14. The cabledemodulator 32 may comprise a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)demodulator and/or a vestigial sideband (VSB) demodulator. The QAMdemodulator may comprise a 64-QAM demodulator and/or a 256-QAMdemodulator. The VSB demodulator may comprise a 16-VSB demodulator,which demodulates a 16-level version of United States terrestrialbroadcasts with 4 bits per symbol and no forward error correction (FEC).

[0011] The direct broadcast satellite demodulator 34 is to demodulatetelevision signals received via the direct broadcast satellitetelevision signal interface 16. The direct broadcast satellitedemodulator 34 may comprise a quaternary phase shift keying (QPSK)demodulator. The QPSK demodulator demodulates a digital transmissionover frequency modulated (FM) carriers using QPSK, which is similar toQAM but without substantial amplitude variations.

[0012] The over-the-air demodulator 36 is to demodulate televisionsignals received via the over-the-air television signal interface 20.The over-the-air demodulator 36 may comprise an Advanced TelevisionSystems Committee (ATSC) demodulator to demodulate 8-VSB modulationsignals used for terrestrial broadcasting in the United States. Thesignal has a carrier at the same frequency as the current analog carrierfor each channel allocation. The carrier is amplitude modulated at oneof eight possible levels about at a 6 MHz rate. Filters limit the totalbandwidth to the 6 MHz channel allocation to avoid adjacent channelinterference.

[0013] The television 10 comprises an input source selector 40 toidentify which of the interfaces 14, 16 and 20 is a source of auser-selected channel. The channel may be user-selected using a remotecontrol and/or a channel selecting interface integrated with thetelevision 10. The input source selector 40 identifies a televisionsignal received on the user-selected channel and determines the natureof the television signal. This process is done automatically bydetecting the modulation-type of the television signal. The televisionsignal is directed to an appropriate one of the demodulators 32, 34 and36 based on said detecting the modulation-type. The appropriate one ofthe demodulators 32, 34 and 36 performs either ATSC demodulation, QAMdemodulation or QPSK demodulation on the television signal. It is notedthat the demodulators 32, 34 and 36 can be embodied by a singleprogrammable demodulation unit that performs the task of demodulatingall three different types of modulated signals.

[0014] The television 10 comprises a digital television (DTV) decoder 42to decode demodulated digital television signals from the demodulators32, 34 and 36 in real-time. The DTV decoder 42 has modes to decodevarious DTV formats, such as high definition (HD) formats and standarddefinition (SD) formats. Preferably, the DTV decoder 42 is capable ofdecoding signals that are interlaced (e.g. a 1920×1080i HD resolutionsignal) and progressive (e.g. a 1280×720p HD resolution signal). The DTVdecoder 42 is also capable of decoding full resolution SD signals (e.g.a 720×480i resolution signal).

[0015] The DTV decoder 42 comprises a Moving Picture Experts Group(MPEG) decoder 44 to decode data compressed based on an MPEG-basedprotocol. In one embodiment, the MPEG decoder 44 is capable of decodingdata compressed based on MPEG-2. As subsequent MPEG standards aredeployed, the MPEG decoder 44 may be based thereon.

[0016] Preferably, the MPEG decoder 44 is flexible to enable decoding ofat least two different versions of MPEG streams (e.g. at least twodifferent versions of MPEG-2 streams). For example, a standard versionof MPEG-2 technology is specified for ATSC terrestrial broadcasting,digital cable transmission as specified by the Society for CableTelecommunications Engineers (SCTE), and Echostar™ s direct broadcastsatellite transmissions. However, a second version of MPEG-2, whichdiffers slightly from the standard version, is used by DirecTV™. Thus,it is preferred that the MPEG decoder 44 be capable of decoding ATSC,SCTE, Echostar™, and DirecTV™ versions of MPEG-2 streams. In general,the MPEG decoder 44 may be programmable to allow any number of differentforms of MPEG-2 or another MPEG-based format to be decoded.

[0017] The DTV decoder 42 sends a resulting decoded video signal to adisplay 46 integrated with the television 10. The display 46 maycomprise a cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), aplasma display, or another display technology to display the resultingdecoded video for view. The display 46 displays video based on theresulting decoded video signal.

[0018] The television 10 comprises a programmable conditional accesssystem (PCAS) 50 to allow different service providers to offer premiumservices using a common interface. The PCAS 50 provides a commonhardware platform for conditional access of premium television servicesfrom direct broadcast satellite and cable service providers. The PCAS 50may comprise a card reader/writer 52 or an alternative datareader/writer to read/program conditional access (CA) and digital rightsmanagement (DRM) data to a removable card 54 or an alternativemachine-readable storage medium. The removable card 54 or alternativemachine-readable storage medium may comprise a magnetic storage medium,an electronic storage medium, or an optical storage medium, for example.One example of the removable card 54 is a programmable PCMCIA-like card.

[0019] Each television service provider can program the removable card54 with its own version of conditional access (CA) and digital rightsmanagement (DRM). In particular, the removable card 54 containsservice-provider-specific CA data and DRM data. Thus, the same hardwareinterface is used for multiple, if not all, premium television serviceproviders. When changing service providers, the user replaces theremovable card 54 with another removable card having CA and DRM dataspecific to the new service provider. The card reader 52 reads theservice-provider-specific CA and DRM data to enable display premiumchannels to be displayed the display 46.

[0020] To further illustrate use of the PCAS 50, consider a firsttelevision service provider that provides a first premium televisionservice and a second television service provider that provides a secondpremium television service. The first and second premium televisionservice providers may be two different cable television serviceproviders, two different direct broadcast satellite television serviceproviders, or one cable television service provider and one directbroadcast satellite television service provider.

[0021] The PCAS 50 enables conditional access to both the first premiumtelevision service and the second premium television service. The PCAS50 provides a first version of CA and DRM for the first premiumtelevision service and a second version of CA and DRM for the secondpremium television service. The two versions of CA and DRM maysimultaneously reside in the PCAS 50 and/or the removable card 54. Thisis beneficial when the television 10 is used to receive premium channelsfrom both a cable television service provider and a direct broadcastsatellite television service provider. Alternatively, the second versionof CA and DRM can reside in the PCAS 50 and/or the removable card 54after the first version of CA and DRM has resided therein. This isbeneficial when the user has changed service providers (e.g. one cableprovider to another cable provider, one DBS provider to another DBSprovider, a cable provider to a DBS provider, or a DBS provider to acable provider) to supply premium channels to the television 10.

[0022] Optionally, the PCAS 50 may be programmed by signals received viathe cable interface 14, the direct broadcast satellite interface 16, theover-the-air interface 20, or the DBS telephone return interface 60. Inthis case, each television service provider can send its own specific CAand/or DRM data to the television 10, which in turn is written to theremovable card 54.

[0023] Using the PCAS 50, each television service provider has thefreedom of implanting its own version of CA and DRM, and consumers havethe freedom of changing service providers without having to change theirtelevision set or acquire a new set-top box.

[0024] To enable two-way communication with the DBS source 24, thetelevision 10 comprises a DBS telephone return interface 60, such asthose implemented in conventional DBS set-top boxes. Two-waycommunication with the cable source 22 is facilitated via the cableinterface 14 and the cable plant.

[0025] The television 10 comprises a processor 62 such as a centralprocessing unit (CPU) and a memory 64 such as a random access memory(RAM) to provide controls and management functionality therefor. Thetelevision 10 may comprise an optional hard drive 66 or alternativere-writeable storage medium to provide personal video recording (PVR)features.

[0026] Preferably, all of the components illustrated within the blockrepresenting the television 10 in FIG. 1 are integrated into a singletelevision set. For example, it is preferred that none of theaforementioned components be associated with a set-top box separablefrom the television 10. However, the scope of this disclosure should beconstrued to broadly contemplate embodiments where at least one of theaforementioned components is located in a set-top box separable from thetelevision 10. For example, the features described with reference to theprogrammable conditional access system 50 may implemented in set-topboxes. It is also noted that a memory integrated with the PCAS 50 may besubstituted for the removable card 54 in alternative embodiments.

[0027] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that thedisclosed inventions may be modified in numerous ways and may assumemany embodiments other than the preferred forms specifically set out anddescribed herein.

[0028] Accordingly, it is intended by the appended claims to cover allmodifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: at least one televisionsignal interface to receive premium television services from at leasttwo different television service providers; and a programmableconditional access system to enable conditional access to the premiumtelevision services received by the at least one television signalinterface from the at least two different service providers.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least two different televisionservice providers comprise a first television service provider and asecond television service provider, wherein the programmable conditionalaccess system is to provide a first version of conditional access for afirst premium television service from the first television serviceprovider and a second version of conditional access for a second premiumtelevision service from the second television service provider.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 2 wherein the programmable conditional access systemis to provide a first version of digital rights management for the firstpremium television service from the first television service providerand a second version of digital rights management for the second premiumtelevision service from the second television service provider.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 2 wherein the at least one television signalinterface comprises a cable television signal interface and a directbroadcast satellite television signal interface, wherein the firsttelevision service provider is a cable television provider and thesecond television service provider is a direct broadcast satelliteprovider.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the programmableconditional access system comprises a card reader to readservice-provider-specific conditional access data from a card.
 6. Theapparatus of claim 5 wherein the card reader is further to readservice-provider-specific digital rights management data from the card.7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least two differenttelevision service providers comprise a first television serviceprovider and a second television service provider, and wherein theprogrammable conditional access system is programmable by both the firsttelevision service provider and the second television service provider.8. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: a flexible MovingPicture Experts Group (MPEG) decoder to decode at least two differentversions of MPEG streams received by the at least one television signalinterface.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the at least twodifferent versions of MPEG streams comprise at least two differentversions of MPEG-2 streams.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1 furthercomprising a display to display the premium television services.
 11. Anapparatus comprising: a direct broadcast satellite television signalinterface; a direct broadcast satellite demodulator to demodulatetelevision signals from the direct broadcast satellite television signalinterface; a cable television signal interface; a cable demodulator todemodulate television signals from the cable television signalinterface; a digital television decoder to decode demodulated digitaltelevision signals from the cable demodulator and the direct broadcastsatellite demodulator; and a programmable conditional access system toenable conditional access to a first premium television service receivedby the cable television signal interface and a second premium televisionservice received from the direct broadcast satellite television signalinterface.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11 further comprising: anover-the-air television signal interface; and an over-the-airdemodulator to demodulate television signals from the over-the-airtelevision signal interface; wherein the digital television decoder isto decode demodulated digital television signals from the over-the-airdemodulator.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the over-the-airdemodulator comprises an Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC)demodulator.
 14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the direct broadcastsatellite demodulator and the cable demodulator are provided by a singleprogrammable demodulation unit.
 15. The apparatus of claim 11 furthercomprising: an input source selector to identify which interface of thedirect broadcast satellite television signal and cable television signalinterfaces is a source of a selected channel.
 16. The apparatus of claim11 wherein the cable demodulator comprises a quadrature amplitudemodulation (QAM) demodulator.
 17. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein thedirect broadcast satellite demodulator comprises a quaternary phaseshift keying (QPSK) demodulator.
 18. The apparatus of claim 11 furthercomprising a display responsive to the digital television decoder todisplay the first and second premium television services.
 19. Theapparatus of claim 11 wherein the digital television decoder comprises aflexible Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) decoder to decode at leasttwo different versions of MPEG streams.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19wherein the at least two different versions of MPEG streams comprise atleast two different versions of MPEG-2 streams.
 21. An integratedmulti-platform digital television comprising: a direct broadcastsatellite television signal interface; a direct broadcast satellitedemodulator which comprises a quaternary phase shift keying (QPSK)demodulator to demodulate television signals from the direct broadcastsatellite television signal interface; a cable television signalinterface; a cable demodulator which comprises a quadrature amplitudemodulation (QAM) demodulator to demodulate television signals from thecable television signal interface; an over-the-air television signalinterface; an over-the-air demodulator which comprises an AdvancedTelevision Systems Committee (ATSC) demodulator to demodulate televisionsignals from the over-the-air television signal interface; a digitaltelevision decoder to decode demodulated digital television signals fromthe cable demodulator, the direct broadcast satellite demodulator andthe over-the-air demodulator, the digital television decoder comprisinga flexible Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) decoder to decode atleast two different versions of MPEG streams; a programmable conditionalaccess system to enable conditional access to a first premium televisionservice received by the cable television signal interface and a secondpremium television service received from the direct broadcast satellitetelevision signal interface; and a display responsive to the digitaltelevision decoder to display the first and second premium televisionservices.